John Donne and Metaphysics

Our April concert program includes an adaptation of John Donne’s At the round earth’s imagin’d corners, blow.  Donne is known as a Metaphysical Poet.  Wendy Graham did a bit of research and provided the following information.

What Does Metaphysical Mean?

The word ‘meta’ means ‘after,’ so the literal translation of ‘metaphysical’ is ‘after the physical.’ Basically, metaphysics deals with questions that can’t be explained by science. It questions the nature of reality in a philosophical way.

Here are some common metaphysical questions:

• Does God exist?
• Is there a difference between the way things appear to us and the way they really are? Essentially, what is the difference between reality and perception?
• Is everything that happens already predetermined? If so, then is free choice non-existent?
• Is consciousness limited to the brain?

Metaphysics can cover a broad range of topics from religious to consciousness; however, all the questions about metaphysics ponder the nature of reality. And of course, there is no one correct answer to any of these questions. Metaphysics is about exploration and philosophy, not about science and math.

Characteristics

The group of metaphysical poets that we mentioned earlier is obviously not the only poets or philosophers or writers that deal with metaphysical questions. There are other more specific characteristics that prompted Johnson to place the 17th-century poets together.

Perhaps the most common characteristic is that metaphysical poetry contained large doses of wit. In fact, although the poets were examining serious questions about the existence of God or whether a human could possibly perceive the world, the poets were sure to ponder those questions with humor.

Metaphysical poetry also sought to shock the reader and wake him or her up from his or her normal existence in order to question the unquestionable. The poetry often mixed ordinary speech with paradoxes and puns. The results were strange, comparing unlikely things, such as lovers to a compass or the soul to a drop of dew. These weird comparisons were called conceits.

Metaphysical poetry also explored a few common themes. They all had a religious sentiment. In addition, many of the poems explored the theme of carpe diem (seize the day) and investigated the humanity of life.

One great way to analyze metaphysical poetry is to consider how the poems are about both thought and feeling. Think about it. How could you possibly write a poem about the existence of God if you didn’t have some emotional reaction to such an enormous, life-altering question?

Donne (1572 – 1631) was the most influential metaphysical poet. His personal relationship with spirituality is at the center of most of his work, and the psychological analysis and sexual realism of his work marked a dramatic departure from traditional, genteel verse. His early work, collected in Satiresand in Songs and Sonnets, was released in an era of religious oppression. His Holy Sonnets, which contains many of Donne’s most enduring poems, was released shortly after his wife died in childbirth. The intensity with which Donne grapples with concepts of divinity and mortality in the Holy Sonnets is exemplified in “Sonnet X [Death, be not proud],” “Sonnet XIV [Batter my heart, three person’d God],” and “Sonnet XVII [Since she whom I loved hath paid her last debt].”